[ozzyleven]

Six weeks ago I was in a bad car accident. I went to the ER right away to make sure nothing was broken and had a really sore neck. Next morning, I wake up and I have intense pain in my right shoulder and numbness/tingling in my hand. Its mostly concentrated in the index finger and thumb. Its been hard to pick up anything over about a gallon of milk, pushing doors open really seems to be a problem too. I've been trying to avoid using it and irritating it.

I had a CT and MRI done and it showed herniation at C5/6 with no significant impingement and to a lesser degree C4/5. Just had an EMG today and while I haven't gotten the final report, the neurologist pretty much said it looked normal. I've been doing PT for 4 weeks now and it seems to have helped with the muscle tension/spasms but my arm is still the same. Range of motion is improving. I'm getting pretty frustrated with my doctors. I have gotten zero answers and very little improvement. My PCP keeps saying that the cervical herniation is not the problem and that the numbness is caused by tight muscles. Neurologist today said to continue with physical therapy. All they do is load me up on muscle relaxers and NSAIDs, but the medication doesn't even touch the pain. I still think its in my neck. My PT is convinced its my neck, but her opinion doesn't seem to matter much to the PCP.

How long is reasonable to say that muscle tension would be causing arm numbness? I was under the impression that six weeks was sort of the standard healing time. Any other treatments/tests that may help? Basically, where do I go from here? I feel like I'm hitting a wall with finding out whats going on.